Polarimeters have been developed that determine an angle of optical rotation of polarized light passing through a sample of material.
Stokes parameters are a set of values that have been utilized to describe a polarization state of light. In particular, Stokes parameters describe light in terms of total intensity (I), a fractional degree of polarization (p) and shape parameters of a polarization ellipse. However, polarimeters have not utilized a rigid monolithic beam splitter therein that bends light rays onto one focal plane to determine Stokes parameters upon receipt of the light rays in real-time.
Remotely collecting accurate polarimetric data (e.g., all four Stokes' parameters) of an object or a scene presents a design challenge. Methods have been proposed for collecting this data, but these methods frequently result in noisy data, require a large number of lenses adding bulk and aberration complexities, and are difficult to register. These drawbacks make remote sensing less accurate and more difficult.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have an improved imaging polarimeter that utilizes a monolithic beam splitter that eliminates the foregoing problems.